Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a buzzword—it’s transforming the very fabric of travel company operations. This was the central message from Phocuswright’s first session of The New Age(nts) Trend Series, held virtually and featuring some of the travel and tech world’s most innovative minds.

Panelists included Anna Jaffe, CEO of Mobi.ai; Bobby Healy, founder and CEO of Manna; Tim Hentschel, CEO of HotelPlanner and meetings.com; and Robert Cole and Mike Coletta from Phocuswright. The session explored how generative AI and autonomous agents are rapidly reshaping workflows, customer service, and revenue models within the travel sector.

One major theme was AI fluency across teams. Healy emphasized the need for organizations to upskill employees to manage AI-led operations: “Open minds and active experimentation are crucial. Otherwise, disruption is inevitable.”

The panel also highlighted how clean data is the lifeblood of any successful AI implementation. Without it, even the most advanced systems fail to deliver accurate results.

Anna Jaffe pointed to the need for contextual understanding over historical data. “You need to understand the traveler now, not just who they were,” she said.

Agentic AI, or autonomous agents capable of handling complex customer interactions, is emerging as a new distribution channel. Hentschel demonstrated this with HotelPlanner’s AI voice reservation agent, trained on eight million real calls and now fielding over 50,000 calls daily. With 24 distinct personalities, it aims to mirror the empathy and efficiency of human agents.

Finally, the panel urged travel companies to remain agile and informed. As Coletta concluded, “What’s experimental today could be the edge you need tomorrow.”

With AI evolving fast, the message is clear: adapt now—or risk falling behind.